Today the World Health Organization stressed that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, confirming that within the past seven days cases worldwide have increased for the first time in almost two months.
This may be signalling the beginning of a new wave of infections, brought about by “restriction fatigue”, whereby people become used to the status quo and turn lax with the social distancing measures.
The increase in infections is also in part caused by countries and states in the US gradually reopening after months and months of lockdowns. France is still refusing to ease measures, while Germany is looking at a partial easing, while keeping the most fundamental measures in place at least until the end of March.
The total number of coronavirus cases worldwide has surpassed 115 million. The United States is still the most affected country, with a total of 29.3 million infections, though the infection rate has gone down substantially thanks to a mask mandate and a successful vaccination campaign. The second most-affected country is India with 11.1 million cases, followed by Brazil with 10.5 million, Russia with 4.2 million, and the United Kingdom with 4.1 million confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Today US stock indices are set to correct downward as investors calm down after yesterday’s rally. On Monday all indices received a massive boost due to the weekend’s approval of Joe Biden’s stimulus plan and the FDA’s approval of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson.
Companies to watch out for include Target and Nordstrom, who are publishing earnings reports today.
As for the economic calendar, one of the main releases today was the latest unemployment change in Germany, which was higher than anticipated. Still, unemployment in February did not rise and was in line with the forecasts.
Core inflation and MoM/YoY inflation rate reports from the eurozone were in line with the forecasts as well, despite some better than expected numbers from EU member states yesterday.
Investors also received GDP reports from Canada today, which showed that the Canadian economy grew at a faster than expected pace in the last quarter of 2020.
